Could a specialized ‘gun court’ help curb violence in Baltimore? Some elected officials hope so.

After losing her son to Baltimore gun violence in 2017, Maryland House Del. Chanel Branch experienced some closure when police announced two arrests in the case. But then more questions troubled her: Who were these young men, and why did they turn to violence? One of them, Raekwon Thornton, had pleaded guilty to a handgun charge several months before the deadly Labor Day shooting that unfolded outside a 7-Eleven in Northeast Baltimore’s Belair-Edison neighborhood. He had been released from home supervision just three weeks earlier.